Gross Investigates Relationship Between Climate Change Beliefs and Risk
Louis Gross, Chancellor’s Professor in the UT Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, recently co-authored an article, “Determinants of Emissions Pathways in the Coupled Climate-Social System” published in the journal Nature, which investigates whether or not there is a link between humans’ belief in climate change risk and the Earth’s changing climate.
“This research indicates that there are significant feedbacks between the physical climate system and human behavioral, societal and economic responses that affect our ability to project future climate,” said Gross. “Our research demonstrates that these feedbacks can somewhat reduce the negative impacts of climate change that are projected to occur when the feedback to human behavior and societal responses are not taken into account.”
This research focuses on how social, political, and technological factors are all critical for predicting the degree our climate will change overtime. Gross explains how this research can be a driving force for society to take more progressive steps to help reduce the negative impact of climate change. People’s beliefs in climate change and its relevance can affect the policies in place. This along with other factors will ultimately have an impact on the earth’s climate.
This research was supported by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), which is headquartered at UT. It was funded by the National Science Foundation with additional support from UT.
“This research is part of a set of collaborative efforts which began several years ago through the support of the NIMBioS. It fostered a highly interdisciplinary group of researchers, with backgrounds in economics, public policy, psychology, mathematics, ecology and climate science, which allowed this effort to be successful,” said Gross.
The collaborations established through Gross and his colleague’s research is continuing using new models, alternate theories, and approaches to enhance climate projections that account for societal responses.
–Story by Sarah Berry
For centuries, scientists have explored and documented the natural world, collecting the billions of specimens housed in museums, universities, and field stations worldwide. And now, the University of Tennessee and other institutions across the globe want to help make that information available to the general public. 
“Natural history collections are a physical record of our planet’s biodiversity across space and time,” said Budke, who is also an assistant professor in the UT Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “These specimens not only serve as records of the past, but they are a critical resource for our future. They help us to answer important questions surrounding invasive species, conservation biology, and help us to describe species that are new to science.”
The WeDigBio Event emerged within the museum community to accelerate the rate of digital data creation about the historical what, when, and where of the perhaps 9 million species on Earth. It has a core leadership team that includes researchers from the Smithsonian Institution, the Australian Museum, Florida State University, University of Florida, and the major online transcription platforms, including the U.S.-based Smithsonian Transcription Center, Notes from Nature, and Symbiota, the Australia-based DigiVol, the UK-based Herbaria@Home, and the France-based Les Herbonautes.
This one-of-a-kind event will be held from October 14-17 at locations across the globe. Members of the public can contribute at any time from anywhere during the event at one of the participating online transcription platforms.
Being a 25+ year employee at UT has allowed me to experience several academic units. In all of the departments, it has been a pleasure to work with students and faculty from different regions of the world. The EEB department, however, has been a constant advocate for adding and bringing more diversity to the department, which has resulted in recruitment of some very intelligent (and active) faculty and students. Overall, a great department to be a part of!”
“Having worked in higher education for most of my career, I knew that UT has a wonderful reputation for research and education and employees rank the university as one of the best places to work in the state. It is the place I wanted to ‘hang my hat.’ 
“I had worked at the university for 22 years, but never in an academic department before given the opportunity to work in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary. I knew this would push me mentally and to continue to learn the other side of how the university functions.
“Getting a job at the university was something I very much wanted to do. I was fortunate enough that my wealth of experience allowed me the opportunity to obtain a job at UT in the EEB department. I think it is wonderful seeing such a diverse group of people working in our office and in our department. I have been made to feel very welcome here at UT, which is one of the many reasons I chose to work for UT and EEB specifically.
It’s got the largest cluster of flowers—sometimes more than eight feet tall—of any plant in the world. It doesn’t flower often—maybe once every seven to 10 years. And when it does decide to flower, it emits a foul smell like the rotting body of an animal. 
Tomatoes are the heart of many backyard gardens. Tomato crops are also an important economic revenue in North America. The vegetable we all know as the “T” of a great summer BLT, however, may be in jeopardy due to a decline in its pollinator species because of climate change.
For decades, scientists have worked to understand the intricacies of biological diversity – from genetic and species diversity to ecological diversity.
Katherine Whitaker graduated magna cum laude in May 2021 as a biology major, concentrating in ecology and evolutionary biology. Katie excelled in both her course work at UK and as a successful undergraduate researcher. 
Kayci Messerly graduated from EEB in May 2021 with a minor in statistics. She completed a research study in the Derryberry lab on heat stress effects on the behavior of zebra finches in collaboration with graduate student Casey Coomes. Her hundreds of hours scoring behavioral videos paid off with presentations at two national conferences, The Animal Behavior Society and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. 
Members of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology recognize and are proud of the long history of programs for conservation of natural resources and the promotion of human welfare that Tom Gilbert (BA ‘50, MS ‘52) has envisioned and led throughout much of the world. 
In 2020, EEB underwent a ten-year Academic Program Review to evaluate the entire program including our culture, and all aspects of the research and teaching missions of the department. The review committee (with folks from inside and outside of the university) noted that one of the “strongest cultural aspects of the department are its collegiality and collaborative spirit that infuses all they do.” 
During this past unusual year we have drawn on this collaborative spirit to help support one another and our students in many ways. With over a year of largely online learning, faculty and staff have helped each other navigate online teaching by sharing digital expertise, sharing slides and teaching materials, and supporting each other by checking in to see how everyone is doing. We have worked hard to support our students through creative methodologies for courses that may have normally been taught in person in the field or lab, by keeping in contact through virtual meetings and social events and increased communication and sharing of health, mental health and career resources. The excellence of our staff members have kept the main office productive and helpful, have maintained our research and teaching resources and collections and have found new and creative ways to support the department. Graduate students pivoted to teach online while also still figuring out ways to do research safely during a pandemic. Moreover, a motivated diversity committee has worked hard to educate and talk about critical social issues through a virtual diversity reading group to change and improve our understanding as well as create action plans to improve diversity and create a culture of true inclusion and safety within our community. 
While distancing, learning, and working in sometimes very challenging conditions in our homes, EEB has continued to be the collegial and productive department that was noted in our program review. We have graduated more than 45 undergraduate and graduate students over the last year, offered professional development and training for students and have taught all of our normally scheduled courses – even if the format was greatly modified – to prevent bottlenecks that might limit student success. 
Our research mission has continued and expanded with faculty and students working on reviews, new virtual collaborations, backyard experiments, and many other creative ways to create and apply knowledge in ecology and evolutionary biology. This year EEB students and faculty have 68 active grants from multiple agencies totaling more than $6 million (Professors Budke and Sheldon both won prestigious NSF CAREER awards), fellowships (Maryrose Weatherton won a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship), and national and local awards (Amanda Hyman won the Cheek Graduate Student Medal of Excellence, Professor Derryberry won Professional Promise in Research & Creative Achievement awards). The list is too long to include here, but we include here a list of all the award winners in the 2020-21 academic year. Our faculty and students have continued to publish important and high-profile papers. 
Laura Russo